The itchy hassle of head lice

A head louse is a 2-3mm long parasite, a tiny insect found on a person’s head. They can be tan to grey-white in colour. When more than one louse is found on a person’s head, the person is said to have head lice or pediculosis. 

Most families with school-age children will at least once receive a note from the school saying there has been an incident of head lice in their child’s class. Despite head lice infestation being so common, it still carries with it the misconception that only people who are unclean or live in unclean environments get head lice. 

This is of course completely untrue. What puts an individual at risk is simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

The louse has little claws that allow it to hang onto an individual’s hair, and it walks around the scalp (surprisingly quickly) eating blood several times a day. 

The louse cannot jump or fly. It literally walks from person to person when close contact allows. Sometimes a louse will walk onto clothing, brushes or bedding first and then onto the next user. However, this is not common, because the louse is particular about temperature, so it stays close to a person’s scalp to stay warm. It also needs to eat often so it sticks close to its favourite scalp buffet! 

Once off a person’s head, it dies in a day or two. Likewise the nits (eggs) will not hatch unless they are kept close to warmth and die within a week of removal. So if one family member has lice, then the others are at risk, especially those who share a bedroom. Classmates and those who play sports together are also at risk. 

 The good news is that the head louse doesn’t transmit disease. Generally, the worst it does is make your scalp itchy. However, if you scratch a lot, sores from scratching can develop and become infected. 

 If you or your child have an itchy scalp, it’s time to take a closer look. You are looking for a louse on the scalp or its nits, which can be found about 6mm or less from the scalp, attached to a strand of hair. (Be careful because dandruff, hairspray, and dust particles are often mistaken for nits.) 

If in doubt, visit your healthcare provider and ask him or her to take a look. If one person has been diagnosed with head lice, then the rest of the family should be examined. 

If no lice or nits are found, they don’t need to be treated, unless an individual has been sharing a bed with a person who has been diagnosed with head lice – he or she should generally be treated. Animals do not carry human head lice and do not need treatment. 

Getting rid of them takes a bit of effort, but with the correct approach it’s easily done. 

However, before trying to rid yourself of lice, it is important to know about its life cycle so you can get it done on the first try. 

Nits take about eight days to hatch. A female louse begins laying eggs within nine days, up to eight nits per day, and then dies at the ripe old age of 30 days. 

What does this mean for treatment? Well, it means that you may have to treat yourself or your child twice – once to rid yourself of the lice which are walking around and again to catch the soon-to-hatch lice. And in between you want to decrease the number of nits attached to the hair with a fine-tooth comb. The timing between treatments depends on the type of medication used, so ask your healthcare provider when it’s best to treat yourself or your child the second time if you are unsure. 

A widely recommended over-the-counter medication is Permethrin 1% (Nix). It kills active lice and can be used on children who are older than two months. Treatment should be carried out on day one and day nine. Make sure to follow the directions provided. It is also important to note that all household members and infected contacts should be treated the same day. 

The next step is to clean all bedding, clothes, and towels with one or more of the following: hot soapy water, a machine drier, dry-cleaning, or seal the items in a plastic bag for two weeks in order to kill any stray lice or nits. Vacuuming the house and commonly used furniture is also recommended. There is no need to have your house fumigated – in fact it will do more harm than good.